The Little World

And when is it Invaluable Historic Resource?

This thought was forced upon me as I sifted through the secondhand dealer’s goods at the Model Railway Exhibition this year. There were at least three dealers specifically dedicated to secondhand – perhaps there were more that I did not see. Their stock ranged from quite professional goods to car boot scrap.

I’m curious as to whether the secondhand dealer who had the biggest sales stand is required under state law to have a secondhand dealer’s licence. I know the camera shop I worked at for eight years had one, and it was quite a valuable document. It was made out to the owner and operator of the premises and, as it was issued by the WA Police Dept., it only went to people with no criminal record.

It allowed the shop to purchase and re-sell goods, and required a system of reporting into a central Police register as well as a cooling-off period for resale. A complex register was kept and random checks were conducted by teams of police officers throughout the years. As there were fines and penalties, it was incumbent upon the shop to keep the register accurate and up to date. Evey now and then there would also be an investigation if there was a notable robbery or theft elsewhere in town.

Perhaps this does not happen in the model railway world as much as with valuable camera gear. I suspect most of the trade is composed of people getting tired of a theme or realising that they would never really complete a layout and becoming discouraged. I think things are bought at very low prices – I remember going into the model rail place some decades ago with bound collections of then-current publications and being offered 1:100 of the retail price. Needless to say, I did not take it – I just distributed them to friends myself and chalked it up to experience.

I’ve also seen old junk sales in the model car and plastic model hobbies – I can recognise the phenomenon when something is offered for 3+ years with no change in the trade table. After a couple of tries, this sort of trade offer is detrimental to the reputation of the seller – far more so than any minor profit that might be realised with a discount sale at the tenth go. Once a person’s table is seen as mere junk, no-one takes them seriously.